CINCINNATI — What we learned as No. 24 VCU recovered from a double-digit halftime deficit by swarming Xavier with its pressure defense to earn a 75-71 victory Saturday at the Cintas Center:

Rams got seen

Juvonte Reddic and the Rams make things miserable for Xavier. (AP Photo)

A barrage of 3-pointers from wing Troy Daniels and an avalanche of turnovers by the Musketeers helped VCU scramble back from 13 points down at halftime.

Daniels, with 19 points, led four scorers in double figures. The Rams’ pressure defense, which they call Havoc, squeezed loose 22 turnovers from the Musketeers and absolutely destroyed gifted Xavier freshman Semaj Christon, who was responsible for 10 of them.

“I give our guys a lot of credit,” VCU coach Shaka Smart said. “We could have folded up the tent. We didn’t play well at either end in the first half. We needed to show more energy, more talk, more spirit in the second half.”

Among those watching was Xavier athletics director Mike Bobinski, who is the chairman of the NCAA Tournament selection committee. Selection Sunday is March 17.

It's like Santa spotting you helping a senior citizen cross the street two weeks before Christmas.

A-10 still has a race

Had the Musketeers (15-11, 8-5) won Saturday, they'd have climbed into a three-way tie for second place with VCU and Butler at 9-4. But all of them would have been two games behind Saint Louis (10-2) in the loss column.

It's not inconceivable that SLU could lose twice more, but it's not likely. The Billikens play March 6 at Xavier and then close their regular season March 9 with a home game against LaSalle. Their other two games are against .500-ish clubs George Washington and Saint Joseph's.

Certainly there could be one loss in that schedule, which is what VCU (22-6, 10-3) is hoping. The Rams have Butler coming to their home after a week to rest up, along with Richmond and a visit to Temple (18-8, 7-5)

A-10 ready for close-up

In its first year after expanding to include VCU and Butler, two teams that have spent time in the poll rankings and earned big victories for the league, the Atlantic 10 is moving its tournament from the obscurity of Atlantic City to Brooklyn, the hottest borough in the nation's biggest city.

The A-10 will stage its tournament March 14-17 at the new Barclays Center, and it should be phenomenal. In fact, those were Smart's exact words: "It's a phenomenal league."

There could be six 20-win teams there, perhaps as many in the RPI top 50, maybe a couple in the poll rankings.

And there'll probably be a team or two that will need to win the automatic bid and might have the ability to do it, such as Xavier or Charlotte. That always contributes to the entertainment, as was the case last year when St. Bonaventure won.

It might be the last great A-10 Tournament, though, depending on when several key members of this league are asked to depart and join the Catholic 7 in their new league. Enjoy it while you can.

Two for 3-point contest

Presuming VCU doesn't make another trip to the Final Four (could happen) and that Xavier doesn't make its first (pretty sure on that one), the Rams' Daniels and the Musketeers' Brad Redford should be no-doubt participants in the annual 3-point shooting contest staged in the Final Four city.

Redford and Daniels were outstanding as they traded 3-pointers under pressure in a tight second half Saturday.

Redford became the price VCU paid occasionally for its devotion to the pressure defense. He made five 3-pointers, four in the second half.

After a 1-of-7 first half in which Xavier’s Justin Martin did a nice job checking him, Daniels broke out as Smart began calling more plays designed to get him open. Smart said there are plays in his book that are named after Daniels.

“I get mad at him when he doesn’t shoot,” Smart said.

Daniels shot 4-of-6 from long range in the final 20 minutes, and his baskets were essential to VCU’s comeback.

Losing Daniels and allowing the Rams enough layups to shoot 53 percent from the field in the second half allowed VCU to get into its pressure more frequently, and that accelerated Xavier’s demise.

Drive the ball vs. VCU

With VCU working hard to double on the perimeter and prevent open 3-point looks, Xavier found much of its early success when it was able to get beyond those traps and into the lane.

Martin scored twice on three-point plays inside the first two minutes, and Christon earned a couple of free throws when he was able to get into the lane along the left side inside the final two minutes of the half.

With 1:20 left in the half, Christon executed a nice backdoor cut after forward Jeff Robinson got the ball at the foul line and bounced it twice toward the goal, drawing a double-team that opened Christon for a layup and a 34-22 lead. It had to hurt VCU most when Xavier was playing for the final shot of the half and was able to pull off the same trick, with Christon bouncing it in the same direction and shooting guard Dee Davis executing the backdoor cut along the right baseline, then drawing a foul as he converted the layup.

With the three-point play completed, Xavier was up 39-26 at half.

Darius means a lot to the D

When senior guard Darius Theus picked up two fouls in just seven minutes of playing time for VCU, the difference in the half-court defense was substantial.

Might those two backdoors have occurred if Theus were around? Hard to say, but he wasn't. And when XU tried to get away with that less 4 minutes into the second half, Theus recovered and deflected the ball out of bounds.

He was absent for most of a half in which Xavier shot 14-of-19 from the field, 3-of-7 from 3-point range and also earned nine free throws and converted eight.

Theus is 6-3, 200 pounds and averages 2.7 steals per game. He bothered Christon early into two of his three turnovers. Upon Theus' return for the second half, Christon gave up the ball again, a turnover that helped fuel a rally that cut eight points off VCU's halftime deficit in less than five minutes.

“He’s the person that makes us go,” VCU guard Rob Brandenberg said.

When Christon tried to drive past Theus with 13:08 left, he got himself so far out of control he lost the ball again and it rolled over the baseline. And when Treveon Graham answered that turnover with a layup and a 3-pointer, the Rams had erased the entire deficit and tied the game at 48-all with 12:09 remaining.

Briante Weber, a sophomore who comes off the bench to lead the Atlantic 10 in steals at 2.9 per game, gets a lot of the defensive attention from those who talk about the Rams, but Theus is at the heart of their success.

“In the first half, our traps were no good and they were passing out of them,” Smart said. “With our style of play, you’re never out of the game, and you’re never up by enough. Because teams can come back on you. But that’s the way we play.”

Davis was missed

After a first half in which he scored 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting, Davis had what appeared to be a collision with a VCU player when the Rams were in their press. The ball was called out of bounds off the Rams, but Davis was injured on the and left the game. He did not return.

At the time he left, Xavier was winning 43-36. VCU had the game tied within four minutes.

Coach Chris Mack did not offer details regarding Davis' injury but said he was probably "50-50" on playing Tuesday against red-hot Memphis at the Cintas Center.

Although in taking Davis' place Redford made some huge 3-pointers to keep Xavier in the game, Davis' absence forced nearly all the ballhandling responsibility onto Christon, who already had demonstrated he couldn't handle half.

“It definitely hurts when Dee goes out. Especially in a game like this, we needed Dee,” Redford said. “He means a lot to this team. He brings us confidence on both ends of the floor.”